


Stars and Tents

by Lumelle



Series: Spare Parts [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Camping, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-07 12:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1899093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having tried to lie to Pepper, Tony find himself dragged along on Steve's camping trip instead. It's just as terrible as he imagined, but some elements might be redeemable. Mainly, Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stars and Tents

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Steve Rogers! Also, happy birthday, me. And thus, here is a fic with Steve in it for our shared birthday.
> 
> This takes place in the [Instructions for Assembly](http://archiveofourown.org/series/65723) 'verse; however, all you need to know is that Steve and Tony are in a three-way relationship with Pepper and the Young Avengers are living in the MCU 'verse.
> 
>  **Please note** that this fic contains some strong language as well as vague references to past canon trauma. Please read accordingly.

"Remind me again," Tony grumbled, doing his best to hold down the corner of the tent the wind was trying its hardest to rip away from his feeble mortal grasp. "How did I get dragged into this, again?"

"As far as I understood, this was your idea." Steve was grinning, because of course Steve was grinning, this was annoying and outdoors-y and of course he would be enjoying this, the maniac. "So don't grumble like you're trying to blame me."

"This so wasn't my idea. I would never have a hare-brained idea like this, not ever. I'm allergic to fresh air that hasn't been filtered through my suit, so don't you dare try and put this on me. Besides, I distinctly remember you talking about your plans to go camping last week, clearly this is all your doing."

"Yes, I was planning on going camping on my own." Was Steve actually smiling while trying to pin their sorry excuse of temporary lodgings to the ground? "As I recall, you informed Pepper you wished to come along. Which I'm sure was purely coincidental with the fact she would have wanted you to take part in an SI design meeting this weekend."

"Oh, that meeting? I absolutely didn't even remember that meeting." At least, he had been doing his very best to forget it. "I just thought I'd, you know, come along. As a show of solidarity. And then when I was sure you were all happy and settled here, I'd go off on my own. I'm a busy man, you know, with a lot of busy things to do."

"I'm sure you would prefer that. However, if you did that, you would have been lying to Pepper, which I would have been obligated to inform her about, being the good boyfriend I am." Oh, yes, definitely smiling. "Fortunately, though, we both know you wouldn't ever lie to Pepper."

"Bullshit. I lie to her all the time." Only because he loved her so, though. "Yes, Pepper, I'm sure this is safe. Sure, Pepper, I'll be back from Afghanistan in a couple of days. That will be all, Miss Potts. Yes, I'm sure everyone will be home safe and sound."

"We both know that's different." Now, Steve turned more serious. "If you truly can't see the difference between those things and using me as a lie to escape your duties —"

"Yes, yes, I get it, Captain Saintly," Tony interrupted him. "I'm terrible and should be ashamed. But why'd you have to drag me along instead of just ratting me out to Pepper?"

"Because I know you really don't want to go to that meeting." What, that obvious? "That, and because I don't actually mind the idea of spending the weekend with you."

"Oh, my. You are being positively devious, my good captain. Should I perhaps worry for the safety of my virtue?"

Steve laughed, and really, there was no need for that. Probably. "Please, Tony. You wouldn't know virtue if it made an appointment and Darcy dragged you to it." At least his tone was teasing more than insulting, which Tony figured was just about the best he could ask for. "And I wouldn't know. Would it be terribly unsafe for your virtue if I kept you safe and sound and warm in my arms at night?"

"I'm sure that can be somewhat tolerable." Tony managed a brief grin, then scowled again as another gust almost ripped the tent out of his hand. "Of course, that's assuming we can actually get this damn thing up. Because warm captain or no, I'm damn well not sleeping on the bare ground."

Steve grinned at him again, and really, it was just not fair for an actual person to look that damn adorable.

*

"Morning." Steve gave Tony a sunny smile as he crawled out of the tent, blinking at the early dawn light. "You're up early."

"I'm starving and freezing, is what I am," Tony grumbled in response. "Please tell me that's coffee you're making."

"Lucky for you, that's exactly it." Steve chuckled, nodding towards the pot he had suspended over the fire. "So, any particular reason you're up already?"

"Found no reason to stay asleep." Tony shook his head to clear it. "Since I pretty much went to sleep once it got dark, my schedule is all thrown off." Not that he often overslept, aside from after all-nighters, but this was early even for him, at least on this side of the sleeping period.

"I'm afraid I can't say that is necessarily a bad thing." Of course he wouldn't, the eternal lark. "Well, the coffee will be done soon enough."

"About fucking time." Tony dug into his pocket for his phone, then frowned as he brought it out. "Damn. The battery's almost out."

"Being out here will do that." And since when had Captain WW2 been an expert on cell phones? "Since it's often looking for a signal, it drains the battery pretty fast."

"Well, fuck that noise. I need my morning tech dose or I'm going to snap. And you wouldn't like me when I'm tech-deprived." And no electric outlets anywhere. "This is why this was a bad idea, you know."

"I find I rather enjoy the occasional break from the electronics." Steve gave him his most angelic smile. "Why don't you take this as a vacation as well?"

"Yeah, not happening." He sat on the opposite site of the campfire Steve was tending, frowning down at his phone. No electric outlets, no, but he was fairly sure he had his emergency toolkit with him. He just needed to jury-rig an adapter for it, and he could make this work. Heedless of the still chilly morning air, he dug out the tools and then started to lift his shirt.

And all of a sudden Steve was around the campfire and standing next to him. "No, Tony." Steve's hand covered his, gentle but immovable. "No toying with your arc reactor."

"And why not?" Tony frowned, taking the screwdriver he had stuck between his lips. "It's mine, isn't it? I should be able to do what I want with it."

"Sure, soon as you answer one question." Steve gave him one of his best serious, "listen to me now" Captain stares. "Do you want me to inform Pepper you managed to get yourself killed by doing unnecessary tinkering on the device keeping you alive in field conditions, or do you want to nominate someone else?"

"Oh, come on. It's not like I'll get myself killed." Honestly. He knew the reactor inside and out; he'd designed and redesigned it, after all. He knew how to tap into it safely, the mere fact that he could link it to his armor should have been proof enough. Steve was just fussing.

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't quite take your word for it." Steve's hand left his, now, but Tony knew it was ready to grasp him again at a moment's notice. "I'm not saying you don't know what you're doing. However, this isn't exactly your workshop, and your tools are less than ideal. If a tool slipped or something went wrong, and the magnet stopped working, you would be dead long before any form of help arrived unless one of the twins answered their phone immediately, which is rather unlikely at this hour. And don't try to tell me it's not that serious, Pepper made it very clear to me just how important that thing is."

"Please. You going to tell me you don't have a spare one hidden away in your bag, paranoid as you are?"

"Even so. I'd rather not have to rely on that spare." Ah-ha. He knew Steve after all. "Besides, if you manage to electrocute yourself, plugging in a new battery is hardly going to help the matters."

"I'm not going to electrocute myself. Geez, I managed to survive being dunked into water while carrying a car battery, I'm pretty sure I can pull through with some tinkering." And wasn't it amazing that he could now actually discuss that without wanting to curl up and cry.

"I know. And yet you'll have to forgive me if I'd rather not see you put yourself in danger." And the look in Steve's eyes was so sincere, so earnest, there couldn't have been the slightest hint of malice or guile in them.

"Fine." Tony sighed, packing away the couple of tools he'd managed to get out of the emergency kit before slipping the almost-dead phone back in his pocket. "But don't blame me when a bear mauls you and I don't have a phone at hand to call for help."

"I'm sure that even in my dying moments I'll take solace in the knowledge that I undoubtedly shielded you from the same terrible fate." And the horrible thing was, Steve actually could say that with a straight face. Then, he leaned down to press a kiss on Tony's lips. "What do you say we see if the coffee's done?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Ah, two of his three true loves at hand at once. The third one obviously being Pepper, and truly his sun was dimmed by the shadow of her absence, but right now all he truly wanted was a cup of the liquid gold that was proper coffee.

Maybe he could make it through the day yet.

*

It was probably a good thing he had managed to acquire a couple of heirs, because there was no way he was making it back home alive.

It was a tragedy for the ages, really, yet it seemed unavoidable at this stage. Much though he would have preferred to make it back safe and sound to his Tower and family and JARVIS and his bots, his unfortunate fate was to freeze to death here in this god-forsaken corner of the earth, leaving behind nothing but regrets and a shriveled husk. He hoped the boys would take good care of the bots. Dummy could be such an attention hog sometimes.

There was movement at the door of the tent. "Tony? You asleep yet?"

"No. I'm busy freezing my poor balls off, thank you very much. You won't like that, will you? Me not having balls? It's an inhuman tragedy, I'm telling you."

"It's not that cold." And then he had to prove himself wrong by crawling into the tent and bringing cold air with him. The utter sadist.

"Go away. You're bringing air in." He didn't need air, none of that shit. If he suffocated at least he wouldn't be cold. Hell was warm, right?

"Sorry, I'm not going to sleep outside just because you're grumpy." At least Steve had the basic decency to zip the door again before crawling any further. Which was also ridiculous, by the way. Who would voluntarily choose a place to sleep where you could barely even sit up?

"I hate you, just so you know."

"I know you don't." Steve's hand brushed against his cheek, making Tony recoil away from the cold skin contact. Steve made a small sound. "Ah, sorry, sorry. I guess I'm a bit cold."

"You're freezing, is what you are." Tony sank deeper into the confines of his woefully inadequate sleeping bag. "What exactly were you doing, anyway? Trying to catch your death of cold? Because if so, stop. If we leave Pepper alone with arranging two funerals at once, she's going to bring us back to life just to make it clear that this will not fly."

"Neither of us is going to die, Tony." Even without looking he knew Steve was fighting the urge to roll his eyes, and that the only reason he was still fighting was because he was Steve.

"I'm not so sure. It's freezing in here, I'm pretty sure I'll start dropping fingers any minute now."

"It'll be warm soon enough." Steve shuffled with his clothes and then got into his own sleeping bag. "And to answer your question, I was looking at the scenery."

"Scenery? What scenery? The sun set already, that's why I came to the tent, because I couldn't see anything. Which is bullshit, by the way. Making light is what set us apart from the beasts, because it meant we didn't have to be afraid of the dark anymore. Camping out here is basically devaluing all human progress up to this day. Do you want to be the one to drag us back to the stone age?"

"You can still see the stars." Steve's voice was soft. "It's pretty much impossible to see them back in the city, with all the lights there. You really have to come out in the open to have any hope of catching them."

"What's so special about the stars, anyway?" Tony stifled a yawn. "They're just other suns, a lot further away. I don't see you staring in wonder up to the sky in the middle of the day."

"They're not quite the same, though." Steve moved a bit closer, his breath a warm breeze on Tony's cheek. "The sun is just, well, there. The stars… some of them are already long dead, even though we see them. Most of them we will never even reach, no matter how long we work or how far we travel. It's like looking out into the unreachable past, holding out your hand but knowing you'll never catch anything."

"The unreachable past, huh." Such as the things Steve remembered leaving behind just a little while ago. Yeah, he supposed he could see how that would appeal to Steve. "Wouldn't it make more sense to look into the future?" It certainly seemed better to him. He wasn't part of the distant past, but if Tony was being honest with himself, he rather liked the idea of being part of Steve's future.

"Sometimes, sure." And now he could tell Steve was smiling, just as he should be. "But sometimes we have to take a look at the past to truly appreciate what we have now."

"I guess." He moved a bit closer. Steve was warm, even through the double layers of sleeping bags. Mmm, his very own portable heater. "And do you appreciate your present?"

"So very much." And there was Steve's arm around him, and the man had to be insane to take it out of the relative refuge of the sleeping bag, but it was firm and warm around him and oh yes that was good. "All of it."

It was still freezing, of course, and Tony still wasn't convinced he would survive the night, but if he had to fade away doing it with Steve's kisses lingering on his lips wasn't a bad way to go.

*

"What do you mean, your bike won't go?"

"I mean what I said." Steve frowned, still kneeling beside his poor bike as though looking at it intensely enough would clear away their troubles. "I don't think it's going to start."

"And what exactly is wrong with it? You didn't run out of fuel, did you?" This wasn't happening. They weren't stranded in the middle of nowhere with a broken bike.

"No! It just won't work. I suppose I'll have to take a look once we get back, but right now, there isn't much I can do." Steve sighed.

"Easy for you to say." Tony lifted his eyebrows. "And how exactly do you propose we get back, considering the fact that our only vehicle is out of commission?" He had been vaguely impressed that Steve had managed to transport both of them and all their camping gear on the back of one bike. Right now, it didn't feel like such a brilliant idea after all.

"Oh, that's simple." Steve gave him an innocent look, as though it indeed were the simplest thing in the world. "We'll just call for someone to come get us."

"Wait." Tony blinked. "How exactly do you plan to call someone?"

"With my phone, of course." And if his eyes weren't utterly betraying him, Steve was indeed opening his bag and getting out a cell phone. One that he apparently could turn on without a problem.

"And how exactly does that work?"

"Oh, I just turned off my phone to save the battery. I mean, aside from the times when I updated Pepper."

"You've been updating Pepper?" His voice was going up to an almost embarrassing pitch. "Why didn't I know anything about this?"

"Oh, I haven't been sending any long reports or anything. Just a text here and there to let her know we're all right."

"I can't believe this." Tony folded his arms over his chest. "Here I have been, withering away with tech withdrawal, and you've been hiding a phone from me all this time?"

"You had your own phone. It's hardly my fault if you can't be sensible about the battery life." And with that, Steve left Tony to spluttering in indignant fury, choosing to make a call instead.

Tony didn't really listen to the conversation, preferring to fume in peace. A moment later, though, Steve called for his attention.

"Billy's going to be home in twenty minutes or so, and as soon as he arrives, they'll get him to open up a gate for us to go through. It's a bit of a wait, but still less than if we actually made the ride."

"Hush. I'm still mad at you."

"Oh, please, Tony. It's not like I was hiding it from you. It's my phone, and frankly it won't hurt you at all to be without yours for a day or two."

"Still. This is cruel and unusual punishment."

"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you decided to lie to Pepper."

Ah, right. There was still that. "Nevertheless. In retaliation, I demand you will help me with my next scheme."

"That would depend on the nature of your scheme."

"Oh, I think you will agree." Tony took on a small smirk. "I'm going to scheme with Darcy to whisk Pepper away to a fancy hotel for a weekend. She needs a break."

"I think I can work with that." Steve gave him a grin. "Now, twenty minutes and we get back home to your precious electricity."

"About damn time." Tony gave an exaggerated sigh. "I miss my central heating. And JARVIS. And my computers. And my lovely, lovely bed."

"I hope you'll still let me join you there."

"Hmmm. I'd say that depends on how warm you're planning to be." Tony smirked. "And how warm you're going to make me."

"That's negotiable." And here was Steve, drawing him close, just as he should be. "How about I give you a little taste of what's to come~?"

"Careful. We wouldn't want to wear you out without Pepper here." And yet he let himself be pulled into a kiss.

It was probably for the best that Billy decided to throw a paper plane through his portal to alert them instead of stepping through himself.

Tony just rather wished it hadn't hit him in his poor, bare, unprotected ass.


End file.
